Frequency distribution of four cytokine gene polymorphisms in healthy Western Kazakhstan population

This study  investigated  a  range  of  gene  polymorphisms  encoding  IL-1,  IL-6,  IL-10, and TNF-α ‒308 in 100 healthy unrelated Kazakhs using real-time PCR. The findings were compared with published data on other populations. The distribution of genotypes was consistent with the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. However, the frequency of cytokine genotypes observed in the Kazakh population showed similarities and differences compared to neighboring ethnic groups. The most noticeable differences compared with Iranians, Turks, Russians, and Chinese were observed in the distribution of IL-1, IL-6, and IL-10 genotypes. The frequency of the TNF-α ‒308 genotype differed only with the Iranian population. Thus, our study showed a link between cytokine gene polymorphism and ethnicity. These results may be of clinical relevance in understanding the prevalence of diseases in Kazakhstan.